Source: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY (NARDEP) CENTER
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0228629
Grant No.
2012-70002-19385
Project No.
PEN04469
Proposal No.
2012-01756
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
FAPR
Project Start Date
Apr 15, 2012
Project End Date
Apr 14, 2016
Grant Year
2012
Project Director
Goetz, S. J.
Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
208 MUELLER LABORATORY
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802
Performing Department
Agri Economics, Sociology & Education
Non Technical Summary
With conflicting perspectives on economic, social and environmental public issues, agricultural and rural development policy deliberations have become increasingly contentious even as fiscal policy becomes more restrictive. At the same time, one-size-fits-all policy analyses and modeling can mask critical differential impacts on regions and disadvantaged groups, further raising the stakes. With globalization and the social media movements, new issues are rising to the fore much more rapidly than in the past. In response to these challenges, we propose to create a flexible national network of on-call research expertise, supported by a strong stakeholder input-gathering and dissemination infrastructure. The four Regional Rural Development Centers will leverage their existing research, policy analysis, and information delivery capacities to rapidly respond to emerging and longer-term policy questions. The centers have deep working relationships with land grant higher education institutions nationwide, including tribal and historically black colleges and universities, providing ready access to a highly functional national pool of disciplinary researchers. This is a proposal for a multiple area emphasis policy research center. The National Agricultural and Rural Development Policy Center will emphasize: rural families, households, and economies; farm and agricultural sectors; consumers, food, and nutrition; and environment. We will use Advisory Councils consisting of leading social scientists and policy practitioners for priority setting, and faculty for special studies. Faculty consulting arrangements are less expensive (no need for full time staff); incur lower transactions costs; are more flexible; and recognize the fact that faculty time is valuable, and scarce.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
80%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6106110301040%
6106099301025%
6106099306010%
6106099308025%
Knowledge Area
610 - Domestic Policy Analysis;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other; 6110 - Economy of the United States and sectors thereof;

Field Of Science
3060 - Political science; 3010 - Economics; 3080 - Sociology;
Goals / Objectives
The need for sound national policymaking has never been greater than in the current environment, in which increasingly complex public issues have to be addressed with declining federal resources. The directors of the four Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDC's) will jointly leverage their existing research, policy analysis, and information delivery capacities in creating a national policy research center to rapidly respond to emerging and longer-term policy questions. By building on their current capacities, past successes in working together as a team, and effectiveness in forging partnerships with new collaborators, they can rapidly mobilize existing and new networks of leading thinkers not only to identify new policy needs but also to develop and deliver science-based information. The specific objectives are fivefold: Objective 1. Provide timely and cutting-edge research on current and emerging public policy priorities and regulations in a quantitative format; Objective 2. Contribute to the enhancement and development of new theoretical and research methods; Objective 3. Create and disseminate new datasets from secondary and other sources to policymakers, analysts and other interested individuals; Objective 4. Serve as a clearinghouse for technology diffusion and educational resources and to disseminate impartial information web-based training and other publications; Objective 5. Help to train the next generation of policy analysts. The time line and schedule of activities is as follows. 1. Within the first month: Finish assembling Research Advisory Council (6 members) and Policy Review Council and schedule quarterly conference calls with all, first meeting in DC. 2. Within the first quarter: Hold first conference call and identify four strategic topic areas/policy questions. Solicit updated input from key stakeholders. 3. After three months: Publish first set of policy resource guides for three critical topic areas. 4. After six months: Release first set of three issues briefs/webinars & start other dissemination. 5. By the End of Year 1: Convene first meeting in Washington, DC. Activities in year two are similar for steps two through five above, except that the issue topics will be defined through stakeholder input. Expected Outputs: Finalized versions of peer-reviewed policy findings will be published as part of the four Centers' existing peer-reviewed publications series in a national NARDeP labeled effort coordinated by NCRCRD, and disseminated through webinars, press releases, Washington DC conferences, and policy maker briefings. Selected policy analyses will be published in national peer-reviewed journals. Data libraries will be created that provide users with easy access to county-level data on dozens of variables presented over multiple points in time. These profiles will be presented in a straightforward and attractive manner, thus facilitating their use by policymakers, analyst, agency representatives, and other decision-makers.
Project Methods
For objective 1, we will draw on the expertise of the Research Advisory Council, as well as our own expertise, to identify faculty on the frontiers of research in the high priority public policy research areas that emerge over the life of this project. An economist post-doc will build economic models while a political scientist post-doc will mine data to explore new methods of issue identification. We will create and disseminate concrete policy recommendations for the different priorities. The most appropriate quantitative and econometric techniques will be used for data analysis, depending on the issue and data types at hand. The PRC staff will surface new issues and serve as beta testers of the recommendations we generate for lay audiences. Our expert faculty advisors and consultants will help to quantify the impacts of policy options and develop new assessment methods. The evaluation will be broad and specific, with individuals from appropriate backgrounds providing peer review and commentary in a continuous improvement cycle. For objective 2, we will work with leading academics at institutions across the nation to enhance existing methods and to encourage the development of new ones. Potential simultaneity among the policy variables studied is important given the desire in this RFP for cross-cutting research. The development of new spatial and theoretical methods will be explored with individual faculty. The products of this component of NARDeP's activities will be evaluated through peer-review. For objective 3, once critical issues have been identified, teams of research experts will address each issue, with coordination provided by one of the RRDC directors. The Regional Rural Development Centers will assemble pertinent secondary data resources that align with the four NARDeP priority areas. Data will be cross-sectional, comparative and longitudinal. Beyond econometric analysis, tools such as input-output models can serve as heuristic devices in policy education. We will evaluate uptake and comment from end-users. To address objective 4, the RRDC Directors have already developed a national presence in policy dialogues through publications, webinars, educational programs, and informal discussions with leaders. Through the NARDeP Center, these capacities will be leveraged to fully utilize their potential. We expect the Center's works to be increasingly relied upon in congressional hearings, popular press and association news articles, and adopted by leading think-tanks. An early issues identification process will help the Center assemble information in time to contribute to the policy debate as the issue gains prominence. We will assess the effectiveness of these methods through participation in webinars, citations of outputs, and hit counts on our web site. Under objective 5, the Center will engage two post-doctoral fellows who are recent graduates of top-ranked institutions. As key issues and knowledge gaps are identified, some of these will inform the research topics for our graduate students. The permanent placement of our post-docs will be an indicator of success.

Progress 04/15/12 to 04/14/16

Outputs
Target Audience:This includes fellow scientists, elected decision makers and lay audiences concerned about the issues addressed by the Center. Changes/Problems:During the no-cost extension period of the project, there were changes in leadership at two of the RRDCs. Mark Skidmore assumed the Director role in the North Central region, replacing Scott Loveridge. Also, Steve Turner filled the vacant director role in the Southern region. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two post-doctoral students were trained under this project, along with an undergraduate intern. A graduate student was trained previously to gather data and conduct various analyses, as well as to conduct a literature review on nutrition and welfare program issues. Webinars were offered nationally to interested professionals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results generated by NARDeP to date have been disseminated via publications (policy and data briefs, working papers, a book, and a special issue of the Journal of Food Distribution Research), presentations at conferences (Southern Rural Science Association, Agriculture and Human Values, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Western Agricultural Economics Association, Federal Reserve Bank Conference on Economic Mobility), webinars, a National Press Club event, e-mail distribution lists, and the website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The NARDeP Center has made substantial progress towards achieving its stated objectives, having to date worked with more than 50 scientists from 19 states and authoring close to 50 Policy and Data Briefs and Working Papers. The Center's website serves as a repository of the cumulative body of new knowledge related to agricultural and rural policy: http://nardep.info. In addition, we have sponsored special, larger projects in the areas of the future of energy (resulting in a major edited book with Routledge Publishers), natural gas extraction, and rural broadband availability and adoption, with the latter resulting in refereed articles published in leading field journals. In addition, we sponsored two major briefings at the National Press Club in DC along with a series of webinars, and we sponsored invited paper sessions at two major conferences: two at the North American Regional Science Association annual meeting and one in the form of a special pre-conference workshop session at the Northeast Agricultural Economics Association annual meeting. By all accounts, USDA's investment in this Center has generated a substantial amount of scholarly output, well beyond our initial expectations, and this work has been and continues to be disseminated more broadly to the communities of policymakers as well as fellow scientists and lay audiences who will benefit by applying many of the insights generated. As one illustratoin of impact, the Center's work on Extension Spending (Goetz and Davlasheridze, 2016) generated wide-spread attention in the media (ECOP Monday Minute, AgDay, KGlobal, C-Fare, and mainstream newspapers in the plains states and elsewhere). It was also used by University Presidents as evidence of the efficacy of University programs. Further, the finding in the Social Indicators Research paper determinants of mental health (Goetz et al, 2015) was distributed to and picked up by newspapersaround the country and in other countries, as well.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Han, Y. and S. Goetz. Workplace-anchored migration in US Counties. Presented at the 2015 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and Western Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, July 26-28, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Goetz, S.J. and Y. Han. Evaluation of Rural Area Classifications Using Statistical Modeling. Presented at the National Academies of Science Workshop on Rationalizing Rural Area Classifications, Washington, DC, April 16, 2015. http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/dbassesite/documents/webpage/dbasse_167037.pdf
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Loveridge, S. and D. Paredes. Are Rural Costs of Living Lower? Evidence from a Big Mac Index Approach. International Regional Science Review. Published online before print May 27, 2016.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Goetz, S. The Roles of Agricultural Economists in Food System Research. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, June 2016, pp 1 - 17 DOI: 10.1017/age.2016.8, Published online: 30 May 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Loveridge, S. "Does Fracking Pay? County-level Economic Effects of Natural Gas Extraction & Policy Options." Presented at West Virginia University Regional Research Institute, March 1, 2016.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Han, Y. and S.J. Goetz (2015) The Resilience of US Counties in the Great Recession, The Review of Regional Studies. 45: 131-149.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2106 Citation: Goetz, S.J. and M. Davlasheridze (2016, available on-line) State Cooperative Extension Spending and Farmer Exits, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. doi:10.1093/aepp/ppw007.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Reimer, A., Y. Han, S.J. Goetz, S. Loveridge and D. Albrecht (2016, available on-line) Word Networks in US Rural Policy Discourse, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 24pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Goetz, S. and M. Davlasheridze. Policy Options for Keeping Farmers on the Farm. NARDeP Policy Brief #37, published April 2016.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Walsh, P.J, Bird, S., and M.D. Heintzelman. "What Factors Drive Local Regulation of Fracking?" NARDeP Policy Brief #28, published August 2015.


Progress 04/15/14 to 04/14/15

Outputs
Target Audience:This includes fellow scientists, elected decision makers and lay audiences concerned about the issues addressed by the Center. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A post-doctoral student continues to be employed by the Center and is learning about new approaches to rural and spatial policy analysis. He had the opportunity to attend a National Academies of Sciences workshop. A graduate student had the opportunity to work with faculty from other states and also attended the Federal Reserve Bank conference on income inequality. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The substantial amount of scholarly output generated under this project is being disseminated broadly to the communities of policymakers as well as fellow scientists and lay audiences through our website, conferences and journal publications as well as one book. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our remaining project timetable is as follows. June - July : Complete peer reviews of four policy and one data briefs that are being completed during the month of April (Goetz); complete analyses underlying two AAEA papers and prepare for presentation (post-doc Han); July: Present papers at AAEA annual meeting (Goetz, post-doc Han); July - December: complete final drafts of papers and submit to journals; also prepare policy briefs for remaining papers, ensure peer review, and post on web-site (post-doc Han, and communications specialist).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The NARDeP Center continues to make substantial progress towards achieving its stated objectives, having to date worked with over 50 scientists from 19 states and authoring close to 50 Policy and Data Briefs and Working Papers. The Center's website serves as a repository of the cumulative body of new knowledge related to agricultural and rural policy: http://nardep.info. We are especially pleased that the NARDeP policy research is being published in two peer-reviewed journals. One was published in a special issue of the Journal of Food Distribution Research (http://www.fdrsinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/JFDR-453-Complete.pdf) and the other is forthcoming in Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. In addition, we have sponsored special, larger projects in the areas of the future of energy (resulting in a major edited book with Routledge Publishers), natural gas extraction, and rural broadband availability and adoption, with the latter resulting in refereed articles published in leading field journals. In addition, we sponsored two major briefings at the National Press Club in DC along with a series of webinars, and we sponsored invited paper sessions at two major conferences: two at the North American Regional Science Association annual meeting and one in the form of a special pre-conference workshop session at the Northeast Agricultural Economics Association annual meeting. On April 2, we presented a poster entitled "County-Level Determinants of Intergenerational Economic Mobility" (by Li, Goetz and Weber) at the 2015 Conference on Economic Mobility hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, DC. We have also developed, at the invitation of the Economic Research Service and the National Academies of Sciences, a new approach and data set involving the classification of rural counties based on commuting network measures.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Thilmany McFadden,D.and Marshall, M. "Local Food Systems and Interactions with Entrepreneurship", Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume 45, Issue 3, p.1-3; November 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Thilmany McFadden,D. "Two Rivers Winery and Event Center: A Key Driver for the Growing Colorado Wine Industry", Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume 45, Issue 3, p.4-12; November 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Sullins, M. "Zia Taqueria: Building a Local Supply Chain in Southwestern Colorado" Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume 45, Issue 3, p. 13-25; November 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Matson,J. and Shaw, J. "Sandhills Farm to Table" Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume 45, Issue 3, p.26-34; November 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Jablonski, B."'Better Butter' Opportunities for Local Food and Entrepreneurship" Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume 45, Issue 3, p.35-46' November 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ellett, J., Einterz, F. and Wilcox, Jr. M. "Revitalizing Rural Indiana:Lone Pine Farms Moody Meats Inc." Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume 45, Issue 3, p.47-57; November 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hughes, D. Crissy, H. and Boys, K. "Limehouse Produce: A Unique Wholesaler of Locally Sourced Produce" Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume 45, Issue 3, p.58.67; November 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: "Paredes, D. Komarek, T., Loveridge, S. 2015. Income and employment effects of shale gas extraction windfalls: Evidence from the Marcellus region. Energy Economics: 47:112-120.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Whitacre, B., Gallardo, R. and Strover, S. 2014. Broadbands contribution to economic growth in rural areas: Moving towards a causal relationship. Telecommunications Policy, 38(11): 1011-1023.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Whitacre, B., Gallardo, R. and Strover, S. 2014. Does rural broadband impact jobs and income? Evidence from spatial and first-differenced regressions. The Annals of Regional Science, 53(3): 649-670.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Paredes and Loveridge, S. "How Large is the Rural Cost Advantage? A Big MAc Index for the United States" Policy Brief, December 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Mattingly and Young "Not Enough Work: Access to Full-Time Jobs with Decent Pay and Benefits Varies by Race/Ethnicity and Place of Residence" Policy Brief, December 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Bloem "Refugees in Rural Communities: A Win-Win?" Policy Brief, November 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Abdalla, C. "Regional Water Management Institutions and Unconventional Gas Development in the Northeast/Central U.S." Policy Brief, August 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Stoellinger, T. "Implications of a Greater Sage-Grouse Listing on Western Energy Development" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Farren "Drilling Booms and Housing Shortages: Is the Market Nimble Enough to Replace Gov't Intervention?" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Tyner and Taheripour "Unconventional Shale Oil & Gas Production and Greenhouse Gas Reduction: Can we have both?" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Megdal, S. "Facing An Uncertain Colorado River Basin Future" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Tanaka, Rimbey and Torell "Ranching Economics and Sage-Grouse in the West" Policy Brief, May 2014
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Li, M.,Goetz, S. and Weber "County-Level Determinants of Intergenerational Economic Mobility" Poster version presented at the 2015 Conference on Economic Mobility, April 2015
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2015 Citation: Goetz, S., Partridge, M., Li, M. and Fleming, M. " Local Determinants of the INC5000 Firms" In review at Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, March 2015
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2015 Citation: Reimer, A., Han, Y., Goetz, S., Loveridge, S., and Albrecht, D. "A Network Analysis of Rural Policy Concepts" In review at AEPP, January 2015
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hanak "Water Scarcity and the California Economy" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2015 Citation: Goetz, S. and Han, Y. "Social Capital, County Information Networks, and Poverty Reduction" Forthcoming in a Routledge edited volume, October 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Moretti "The Future of Jobs in America" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hardey and Kelsey "Local and Non-Local Employment Associated with Marcellus Shale Development in Pennsylvania" Policy Brief, July 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Weber and Hitaj "Shale Gas Drilling and Farm Real Estate Values" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Fitzgerald "Property Rights for Hydraulic Fracturing" Policy Brief, June 2014
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Jellicoe and Delgado "Quantifying the Risks of Underground Natural Gas Storage" Policy Brief, June 2014


Progress 04/15/13 to 04/14/14

Outputs
Target Audience: As spelled out in our original grant application, the primary audience for this work is federal, state and local policymakers. In addition, staff in federal and state agencies are potential beneficiaries of this work, as are other researchers and students in universities across the nation. Changes/Problems: While we have not encountered major problems, we have had turnover among the Associate Directors of the NARDeP Center. In particular Dr. Lionel Beaulieu resigned from his position as Southern Rural Development Center director, and we are currently waiting for the new director to be appointed. This has slowed down our progress in carrying out the Plan of Work slightly. Also, Dr. Don Albrecht, Director of the Western Rural Development Center, should be listed in the award document as a Co-Project Director. No-Cost Extension has been granted, new termination date is 4/14/2015. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? So far we have trained two post-docs, one of whom has moved on to another position. The webinars and National Press Club briefings were available to Extension educators around the nation. Results from some of the policy briefs are being used in presentations to Extension educators. A graduate student was trained in data extraction, policy analysis and preparation of policy briefs. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The policy briefs are routinely routed to policy makers and their staff on Capitol Hill via the team’s contacts with legislative offices. The project partnered with the Farm Foundation on two occasions, to feature the work on broadband development and unconventional gas well development at two National Press Club Forums that each drew over 75 policy makers from the Washington, DC area, in addition to being web-cast nationally. Presentations of preliminary findings also have been made to non-USDA federal agencies, such as SAMHSA-DHHS. NARDeP policy briefs have been featured six times in The Daily Yonder, an online news source with broad national distribution. A professional presentation was made at the Southern Regional Science Association annual meeting in Washington, DC, in April 2013. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We are planning for continued collaborations with leading scientists, scheduled to take place over the coming year and early into 2015 that will address high priority policy issues identified by our stakeholders as well as the Secretary of Agriculture. These include local foods and entrepreneurship; economic mobility; rural competitiveness; and economic and environmental impacts of unconventional energy extraction. In addition, we are continuing to commission and publish policy briefs on priority topics, as specified in our grant application, and we will conduct in-house research with post-docs and students.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We recruited and set up separate research and policy boards of directors that are comprised of leading researchers in various fields as well as distinguished policy advisors with national reputations. One emerging hallmark of this particular Policy Research Center is the integrated analysis across different disciplinary fields, e.g., examining the relationship between economic development and mental health, local food systems development and entrepreneurship, or diabetes and SNAP payments. Thus far, NARDeP has published 21 policy and data briefs, two major project reports and five working papers. This work has been conducted in close collaborations with leading scientists in different subject areas from around the nation. Additionally, three national webinars have been presented. A number of other projects and publications are currently in progress. These cover a broad range of issues relevant to rural development and agricultural policy. Issues covered by NARDeP publications include energy, water, endangered species, natural disaster preparedness, broadband, inequality, economic disadvantage and job creation. A NARDeP energy initiative resulted in seven policy briefs on energy related issues and a chapter generated from each of the policy briefs. These chapters were compiled into a book that has been accepted for publication by Routledge Press. A website has been established, containing a wealth of information: www.nardep.info.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Albrecht; January 2013; Addressing Rural Economic Disadvantage; Policy Brief #1 http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ferrell and Sanders; March 2013; Natural Gas Extraction Brief; Policy Brief #2 http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Whitacre, Gallardo, and Strover; March 2013; Policy Options for Broadband in Rural Regions; Policy Brief #3 http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Martin and Jackson-Smith; April 2013; Immigration and Farm Labor in the U.S.; Policy Brief #4 http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reimer; July 2013; Trends in U.S. Agricultural Conversation Programs; Policy Brief #5 http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Messmer; July 2013; Lessons Learned from the Greater Sage  Grouse; Policy Brief #6; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Skidmore; August 2013; Natural Disaster Preparedness and Recovery; Policy Brief #7; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Carpenter; August 2013; How Rural Disasters Can Adapt to Declining Rural Latino Immigration; Policy Brief #8; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Kandilov and Renkow; August 2013; The Impact of the USDA Broadband Loan Program on U.S. Agriculture; Policy Brief #9; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reimer; October 2013; Coordinating U.S. Water Policy; Policy Brief #10; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Albrecht; October 2013; National Trends in Income Equality; Policy Brief #11; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: De Groeter and Drabik; November 2013; Socioeconomic Issues and Biofuel Energy; Policy Brief #12; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Krannich, Robertson and Olson; November 2013; Wind and Solar Energy in the U.S.  Policy Recommendations for Rural Development; Policy Brief #13; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: McCarl and Wlodarz; November 2013; Climate Change and Energy  Interrelationships and Possible Policy Approaches; Policy Brief #14; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Partridge and Weinstein; November 2013; Economic Implications of Unconventional Fossil Fuel Production; Policy Brief #15; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Schuelke-Leech; November 2013; Socioeconomic Implications of Nuclear Power; Policy Brief #16; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Muratori; November 2013; Rural Energy Use and the Challenges for Energy Conservation and Efficiency; Policy Brief #17; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Christopherson and Rightor; November 2013; Confronting an Uncertain Future  How U.S. Communities are Responding to Shale Gas and Oil Development; Policy Brief #18; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Goetz, Loveridge and Albrecht; April 2013; Where The Jobs Went After 2007; Data Brief #1; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Albrecht, Goetz and Loveridge; May 2013; Changes in Energy Production, Employment and Business Between 2001-2010; Data Brief #2; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Loveridge and Reimer; June 2013; Diabetes and SNAP: An Opportunity for Change?; Data Brief #3; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ferrell and Sanders; February 2013; Natural Gas Extraction: Issues and Policy Issues; Webinar; https://connect.msu.edu/p9ra7926pxq/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal
  • Type: Websites Status: Submitted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Whitacre, Gallardo, Strover; March 2013; Rural Broadband Availability and Adoption: Evidence, Policy Changes and Options; Webinar; https://connect.msu.edu/p9jhgppqkvf/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reimer; October 2013; U.S. Water Policy: Trends and Future Directions; Working Paper; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reimer; May 2013; U.S. Agricultural Conservation Programs: Trends and Effects on Farmer Participation; Working Paper; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reimer; July; Who Influences National Rural Policy? Identification and Description of Rural Interest Groups; Working Paper; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Han and Goetz; April 2013; Predicting the Economic Resilience of U.S. Counties from Industry Input-Output Accounts; Working Paper; http://www.nardep.info/Publications_2.html


Progress 04/15/12 to 04/14/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: We have not encountered any major problems but one significant change has been the departure of the Director of the SRDC, Bo Beaulieu. We are currently awaiting the appointment of a new director in that region. A major consequence of this departure has been a shift in website and database management responsibilities to Penn State University. After careful evaluation and with more detailed knowledge of the specific needs of the project, we decided not to enter into the consulting agreement with Dr. Piras of West Virginia University. We expect instead to contract spatial econometrics-related work to other experts on an as needed professional services basis. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Two post-doctoral students are being trained under this project, along with an undergraduate intern. A graduate student was trained previously to gather data and conduct various analyses, as well as to conduct a literature review on nutrition and welfare program issues. Webinars were offered nationally to interested professionals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results generated by NARDeP to date have been disseminated via publications, presentations at conferences (Southern Rural Science Association, Agriculture and Human Values), webinars, a National Press Club event, e-mail distribution lists, and the website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Under the leadership of Associate Director Albrecht, we have brought together a team of nationally-renowned experts on the subject of energy and the environment, which is well underway. In the upcoming project phase we will form teams around self-employment and food systems, and we will continue to release publications in various formats on emerging, cross-cutting rural policy priority issues. Another National Press Club event is scheduled for September 11, 2013. Among other presentation venues, selected research findings on agricultural resilience will be presented at the summer 2013 meeting of the Northeast Land Grant University leadership, in Ithaca, N.Y., on July 8, 2013 as well as at upcoming professional conferences TBD.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Obj. 1: After setting NARDeP Center research priorities at a fall 2012 meeting in Washington, DC, with the guidance of the Research and Policy Advisory Boards, a number of publications were developed by Center staff as well as commissioned from a group of national experts. These priorities include energy and the environment, broadband, food systems, and self-employment in addition to others identified earlier in the grant application. A hallmark of NARDeP will be the integration of social science issues across different topic areas, such as the interaction between welfare policy and consumer health issues (e.g., the SNAP program and obesity). A list of products prepared to date appears at the end of this report. A common feature of these various products is the use, analysis and mapping of county-level data from various secondary sources, with an emphasis on rural conditions. New emerging rural policy priorities also are being identified through the innovative use of word networks, including the identification of co-occurrences of different words across agencies and institutions which has the potential to increase the formation of more effective rural policy coalitions. Obj. 2: The word network analysis represents an innovative use of new methods developed in other fields of science, and a novel application to rural policy analysis. We are not aware of similar prior applications in this area and expect this research to provide new insights into rural policy formation and potential collaborations across interest groups. Our preliminary work on this method was recently presented at the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values conference. A second methodological innovation is the classification of rural counties in terms of their vulnerability and resilience to the Great Recession of 2008. A third, theoretical innovation is the development of network measures from an industry input-output table, which are then applied to county-level data on employment by industry, to understand how different interactions among industries affect local economic growth prospects in rural areas. This is a contribution to the emerging field of economic complexity. Obj. 3: New data sets under development include a classification scheme of different counties according to their performance (resilience, time-to-recovery, vulnerability, etc.) in the Great Recession. A second data set involves the classification of all counties according to network measures such as local industry centrality, betweenness, closeness, diversity and entropy. A third data set that has been peer-reviewed and will be made available through NARDeP is a latent county-to-county migration data set based on places of work rather than residence. Once a refereed study has been prepared, the rural policy word network data will also be made available to stakeholders. Obj. 4: The nardep.info website has been created and relevant resource materials added both from NARDeP products and other sources (e.g., for natural gas fracking). This is an on-going process. In addition, selected publications have been released via e-mail distribution list and a major announcement of the updated website has been made. Webinars have been delivered to national audiences, data briefs have been announced through national media outlets such as the Daily Yonder, and a National Press Club briefing on one of the funded studies was held on April 3, 2013 with the support of Farm Foundation. Obj. 5: Two post-doctoral students were hired under this grant to conduct leading edge research on rural policy-relevant topics (at Penn State and Michigan State Universities). In addition, a graduate student worked on data gathering and analysis, and an undergraduate student intern is working part-time with the Project Director on collecting relevant information as well as presenting it on the website.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Albrecht, Don E. Addressing Rural Economic Disadvantage Western Rural Development Center, Policy Brief #1 http://nardep.info/uploads/Brief_RuralEconomicDisadvantage_Albrecht.pdf (January 2013)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reimer, A. Trends in U.S. Agricultural Conservation Programs Policy Brief # 5 http://nardep.info/uploads/Brief_Conservation_Reimer.pdf (May 2013)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Goetz, Stephan J., S. Loveridge and D. Albrecht Where the Jobs Went After 2007 Data Brief # 1 http://nardep.info/uploads/DataBrief1_Jobs.pdf (April 2013)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Albrecht, Don E., S.J. Goetz and S. Loveridge Changes in Energy Production, Employment, and Business Between 2001-2010 Data Brief #2 http://nardep.info/uploads/DataBrief2_Energy.pdf (May 2013)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Loveridge, S. and A. Reimer Diabetes and SNAP: An Opportunity for Change? Data Brief #3 http://nardep.info/uploads/Brief_DiabetesSNAP.pdf (June 2013)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ferrell, Shannon L. and L. Sanders Natural Gas Extraction: Issues and Policy Options (Extraction Brief) http://nardep.info/uploads/Natural_Gas_Extraction_Brief.pdf February 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ferrell, Shannon L. and L. Sanders Natural Gas Extraction: Issues and Policy Options (White Paper) http://nardep.info/uploads/Natural_Gas_Extraction_White_Paper.pdf February 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ferrell, Shannon L. and L. Sanders A Natural Gas Extraction Policy Alternatives Matrix http://nardep.info/Energy_and_The_Environment.htmlFebruary 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ferrell, Shannon L. and L. Sanders Technical Supplement Natural Gas Extraction: Issues and Policy Options http://nardep.info/Energy_and_The_Environment.html February 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Gallardo, Roberto, S. Stover, B. Whitacre, Rural Broadband Availability and Adoption: Evidence, Policy Challenges, and Options (Broadband Technical Report) http://nardep.info/uploads/BroadbandWhitePaper.pdf March 18, 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Whitacre, B., R. Gallardo and S. Strover Policy Options For Broadband in Rural Regions http://nardep.info/uploads/Brief_RuralBroadband_Whitacre_etal-1.pdf March 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Whitacre, B., R. Gallardo and S. Strover, Broadband Executive Summary http://nardep.info/uploads/BroadbandExecutiveSummary.pdf March 2013
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Whitacre, B. R. Gallardo, and S. Strover, PowerPoint Presentation of Broadband Issues and Policy Options http://nardep.info/Product_by_Type.html March 18, 2013
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Gallardo, R., S. Strover, and B. Whitacre, Rural Broadband Availability and Adoption: Evidence, Policy Challenges, and Options Webinar presentation http://nardep.info/Webinars.html March 18, 2013
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ferrell, S. and L. Sanders Natural Gas Extraction: Issues and Policy Options Webinar Presentation http://nardep.info/Webinars.html February 27, 2013
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Reimer, A. If Congress Passes It, Will Farmers Sign Up? Webinar Presentation http://nardep.info/Webinars.html December 5, 2012
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reimer, A., U.S. Agricultural Conservation Programs: Trends and Effects on Farmer Participation http://nardep.info/uploads/ConservationPaper_-_Reimer.pdf 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Martin, P. and D. Jackson-Smith, Immigration and Farm Labor in the U.S. http://nardep.info/uploads/Brief_FarmWorker.pdf May 2013
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Han, Y. and S.J. Goetz, Predicting the Economic Resilience of US Counties from Industry Input-Output Accounts, presented at the 2013 Southern Regional Science Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC. April 5, 2013.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Goetz, S.J., M. Partridge, D.A. Fleming and M. Li, County Location Determinants of the INC5000s, presented at the 16th Uddevalla Symposium 2013 on Innovation, High-Growth Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Kansas City, KS, Kauffman Fdn. Conference Center, June 13, 2013.